Improvement in tournures



A. W. THOMAS.

I Improvement in Tou'rnures. N0. 4,624. Patented May 9,1871.

hated 1 hffitt AMOS" w. THOMAS, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

. Letters Patent No. 114,624, dated May 9, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOURhIURES The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

I AMOS W. THOMAS, of the city of Philadelphia,

in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain- Improvements in Tournures for Ladies Dresses, of which the following is'a' specification.

Nature and Objects of the Invention.

My invention relatesto the mode of suspending the horizontal or slightly-declined bars of skirt-wire which project backward from the right and left sides of a band buckled around the waist of the person and consists of three series, more or less,- of standards, each series consisting of several pieces of flat elastic skirt-wire, bent, secured permanently together at the bends, and the ends spread apart so as to afford .straight uprights, when the upper end of the inner or longest one is securely attached to the waistband, and the ends of the successively shortening ones to the respective horizontal or slightly-declined bows, and the tournure applied so that the connected bent portion of each of the said series of standards will rest against the person, and the said standards thus rigidly support the bows in the required horizontal or declined positions, and at the same time allow them to yield elastically inward to any outside lateral pressure or impact upon the tournure; the object of my invention being to aflbrd such a support to the rear' portion of the dress-skirt as will effectually prevent its weight from s'wagging the bows downward, and at the same time allow the said bows to yield elastically inward to lateral pressure or impact from the outside of the dress.

Description of the Accompanying Drawing.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tournure embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is-one of the like series of standards detached.

General Description.

Tbe'waistband A is made of any suitable flexible fabric, and the two .ends of each of the bows B B B B B B, which are made of flat skirt-wire, are securely attached to the respective right-and left-hand sides a a of the waistband A in the relation to each other represented in fig. 1, the Wire of the upper bow B being the shortest, and that of the other successively increasing in length, so as to produce the increase in the projecting curves of the bows and the general contour of the whole, to give the desired vertical and horizontal curves of the tournure when finished; and in order to maintain the said form, especially in wearing the tournure, all the bows B must be 1 supported in their proper horizontal or declined posi tions, and this is provided for in the construction and application of the several series 0 O O of standards.

Each series consists of several pieces of flat skirtwire, cut in lengths, bent, and securely clamped or fastened together at the bends 0 so as to allow their free ends 0 c c c c c to be arranged and securely attached, the longest one cto the waistband A, and the others successively to the respective bcws from B to B inclusive.

One of the series of standards 0 is secured at the mid-lengths respectively of the waist-band A and the bows B, and the other two series at respective points between .the middle one and the junction of the bows and waistband, substantially as represented in fig. 1.

As a modification, the lowest bow B maybe simply suspended from the bow B, which is immediately above it, by three swinging bars, D D D, of the same material as the standards 0.

In wearing, the band A being fastened around the waist of the person, the standards 0'', or the bent lower end of the same, restagainst the undershirt and person of the wearer, and the upper part of the dress oroverskirt upon the tournure, while the series 0 G O of standards rigidly support the bows against the weight of the overskirt and dress, and at the same time-yield readily in an elastic manner to any lateral external presssure or impact, and recover their respective positions when the pressure is removed.

0 Zaim.

and arranged to operate substantially as and for the.

purpose hereinbefore set forth A. W. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

BENJ. MORISON, WM. H; MORISON. 

